The Stadium of the Mind

Wade Inganamort quotes Karl Rove's appreciation of Nazi rallies, cites Manufacturing Consent, and then goes on to say in his latest column:

Television now serves as the modern day vehicle for distraction and social conditioning. More than 2,100 hours of televised sports are programmed per year by the four major networks, and cable television provides an additional 6,000 hours. ESPN, which reaches 70 percent of American homes with televisions, broadcasts more than 8,000 hours of sports each year. If Americans spent as much time learning about world affairs or our Constitution and Bill of Rights as they do passing percentages and field goal ranges, maybe more than 13% of people aged 18-24 could locate Iraq on a map.

But just when you thought that gone were the days of lions and swords, coming out tomorrow on Fox is a new reality show called "Man vs. Beast" in which, you guessed it, people will be competing with animals in front of a national audience. To set the tone, this program will have feature commentary by boxing announcer Michael Buffer. They will be dragging airplanes, running the 100 meter, and a host of other inane gladiator stunts. In the end, is there really any wonder why they call it 'programming'?

The blame has to go somewhere. With people still believing inane nonsense about Iraq, and Bush's approval ratings still above 50% (even though they've dropped significantly), somebody needs to snap the American public out of our collective coma.